The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-01-11
%AsToNIsHED.
Remarkable Discoveries that Some OF
Them Have Recently Made.

Them Have Recently Made
1t happens now and then that an ex-
plorer makes a sensational and wholly
unexpected discovery. Several unique
facts with regard to certain tribes of
savages have recently been ascertained.
Mr.. w. Montagu Kerr, for instance,
has found among the Makorikori tribe
in Africa, whom he is the first to de-
scribe, gunpowder which they make
themselves for use in the fint-lock
muskets which they obtain from native
traders.
This tribe live far from the East coast
and quite a distance south of the Fam
best River. Their g%unpowder burns
slowly and Its explosive force is far in
ferior to that of ours, but it answers
their purpose very well. They mix the
eflorescence of saltpeter with charcoal
which they make from the bark of the
mufati tree. This mixture is baked in
an earthen pot for several hours, and
then it is pulverized and spread in the
sunlight, where it is left for some time.
1t is not at all likely that the Makori-
koris, like the Chinese, discovered the
art of making g%unpowder. Their faith
ers doubtless learned it flom the Portu-
gnese or from slaves who had lived
among white men on the coast. We
hear strange things once in n while of
African tribes but it was hardly to be
expected that a wholly unknown tribe,
nemmed in by the mountains of inner
Africa, would be found engaged in the
manufacture of %gunpowder.
A few years ago Lieut.. Wissmann
came home and told a remarkable sto-
ry about tribes he had met with south
of the Congo River, who were far more
civilized than most African peoples.
His report is now fully confirmed by the
travels in the same region of Lieuts.
Kund and Tappenbeck. They found last
year, between the Congo and the Sau-
kuru Rivers, many street-villages with
large, gable-roofed huts standing
squarely on either side Of the street, In
habited by brownish-red, fine looking
people. These villagers have advanced
notions of comfort. They sleep on
wooden bedsteads, instead of on the
floor. Their homes are the largest yet
found in Africa, and are kept clean.
Their streets are about fifty yards wide,
sometimes two or three miles long, and
are carefully swept. Refuse of all sorts
Is taken away and thrown into pits dug
for the purpose. They are clever hunt
crs and train their dogs to follow game.
They carve pestles out Of ivory for
pounding manioc, and they have aston
ishing skill as wood carvers. Lieut..
Kund brought home two wooden cups
rep ~resenting negro heads, which might
readily be taken for European products,
owing to their superior workmanship.
Behind the houses of this populous
Zenge tribe are neatly kept gardens
and plantations of bananas.
When Lieut.. Holm visited an inso.
lated settlement of East G~reenlanders
two years ago he was astonished to find
among these natives, of whom the
world had never heard, walrus spears
# which the handles were made of
wood, although no timber grew there,
and the points of hoop-iron. He as
certained that the sea currents had
brought these useful commodities to the
poor Eskimos in the shape of wreckage
and iron-bound boxes.
1t has recently been shown that i'll
parts of Chill where European trees
and plants have been introduced the
native flora is actually disappearing
and the imported vegetation is flour
ishing in its place. Explorers are Of
ten surprised to see the familiar plants
and fruits of other regions growing as
exotics where they did not dream of
finding them. Kerr discovered the to-
mato in the far interior of Africa, and
Schweinfurth was much astonished to
find tobacco in the heart of the conti-
nent, where It was raised and enjoyed
by natives who had never heard of its
American home, though the name by
which the weed was known among
some tribe was doubtless derived from
u nam for It.